THE STORY OF THE WIND
Founding Editor Simon Broughton Publisher & Managing Director Paul Geoghegan Editor Russ Slater Johnson Assistant Editor Emma Rycroft Art Director Juliet Boucher Advertisement Manager James Anderson-Hanney Online Content Editor James McCarthy Listings Editor Tatiana Rucinska Assisted this issue by Spencer Grady Marketing Manager John Barnett Marketing Assistant Oscar Faulkner Cover Image Hanna Kebbede Contributing Editors Jane Cornwell, Mark Ellingham & Nigel Williamson Subscriptions Director Sally Boettcher Editorial Director Martin Cullingford CEO Ben Allen Chairman Mark Allen SUBSCRIPTIONS UK: 0800 137 201 Overseas: +44 (0)1722 716997 subscriptions@markallengroup.com ADVERTISING +44 (0)20 7501 6683
Holy Mother!
When I started as editor at the beginning of the year there was one feature I had pencilled in straight away. In December 2023, the Ethiopian pianist, composer and nun Emahoy Tsege-Mariam Gebru would be 100 years old and we should celebrate. Emahoy got her big break late in life, when she was already in her 60s, thanks to being the focus of Éthiopiques 21: Piano Solo (2006). Though the Éthiopiques series has been regularly featured in Songlines, Emahoy has not. This is partly because she didn’t perform live and hasn’t released any new music since Songlines began, but also because she was a singular presence in the Éthiopiques catalogue. Emahoy wrote in the liner notes to her 1963 album Spielt Eigene Kompositionen that she found great meaning in music, but it was not her calling. She found that at an evening mass in 1948: ‘I understood that the fulf illment of my life’s purpose lay in serving God as a nun.’ She adds: ‘My life path has been one of stillness and inwardness,’ having at that point spent much of the previous 15 years living in solitude. The albums that she released in the 60s and 70s were all to raise money for good causes. It’s fascinating reading Emahoy’s notes on her songs, so many were written for her family, or took on extra meaning when her family heard them. It’s an extraordinary family too. Her mother was a descendant of Seble Wongel (16th-century Empress of Ethiopia) and her father of Fasilides (17th-century Emperor of Ethiopia). He was also an important political f igure and ambassador who was part of an Ethiopian delegation sent to the UK to attend King Edward VII’s coronation in 1902. Emahoy’s sister, Senedu Gebru, also deserves a mention: she was a passionate campaigner for equal rights who became the f irst Ethiopian woman elected to Parliament. Emahoy dedicated her song ‘The Song of the Sea’ to her father; it was inspired by a memory of being on a boat at six years old with Senedu: ‘we were lying on deckchairs on the deck because inside the cabin was too hot. The sight of the full moon shining on the deep blue cloudless sky, her silvery rays sparkling on the sea waves like a moving silver f ield , the waves under the soft blow of the wind chasing one after another: even later in life the sea always had a special attraction to me, taking you on her waves on an afar journey…’
When Emahoy died in March this year, I wondered whether we would still run a feature. I’m glad I saw sense, as hers is an amazing story, and one still being told as an upcoming documentary and the release of home-recorded songs beckons. It’s never too late to discover the joy of Emahoy.
Russ Slater Johnson, Editor
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Chris Wheatley Chris is a writer with a lifelong love of global sounds. He has too many records, too many musical instruments and not enough cats. He’s also very tired after giving Folkways Records 75 birthday bumps (p28).
Silvia Rothlisberger Silvia is a London-based journalist from Colombia covering Latin American music, f ilm and literature; she works in editorial at The Guardian. Soema Montenegro puts her under her spell on p40.
Dave McNally Dave lives in Manchester and has contributed to Songlines since 2018, also writing for The Guardian, Folk Radio and
Irish Music Magazine. He listens to The Breath strip back their sound on p24.
Songlines was launched in 1999 and is the definitive magazine for world music – music that has its roots in all parts of the globe, from Mali to Mexico, India to Iraq. Whether this music is defined as traditional, contemporary, folk or fusion, Songlines is the only magazine to truly represent and embrace it. However, Songlines is not just about music, but about how the music f its into the landscape; it’s about politics, history and identity. Delivered in both print and digital formats, Songlines, through its extensive articles and reviews, is your essential and independent guide to a world of music and culture, whether you are starting on your journey of discovery or are already a seasoned fan.
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DECEMBER 2023 › SONGLINES 03
